An annular solar eclipse occurs when the Moon passes between the Earth and the Sun, blocking out most but not quite all of the Sun's light.
It's called an annular eclipse because just a thin ring, or annulus, of light remains visible.An annular eclipse only happens when the moon is at its furthest away point from Earth. In perspective to us on Earth, it doesn't completely block out the light...
They've traced the problem to the failure of protective material that was lining the throat of an engine nozzle.
This led to a drop in combustion pressure and acceleration.
When it became clear Vega-C wouldn't make it to orbit, a self-destruct command was sent, which also annihilated the satellites onboard.
These were two high-resolution Earth imagers built by the aerospace company Airbus.
...
Deforestation for agriculture and fires were the main drivers of the increase, according to the authors.
The scientists say that a "collapse" in law enforcement in recent years has encouraged forest clearing.
The research findings have been submitted for publication but have yet to be independently reviewed. As home to the largest tropical forest on Earth, the Amazon plays a critical role...
Shortly after 03:30 GMT on Monday, Earth's orbit meant that for several minutes our planet was positioned directly between the Sun and the Moon.
In that time the Moon fell completely into Earth's shadow - temporarily turning it a dusky shade of dark red.
Its hue was created by sunlight being projected through Earth's atmosphere onto the Moon's shadowed surface.
The lunar eclipse coincided...
The robotics professor has been leading the development of a tiny wheeled robot called Iris, which could become the first uncrewed rover sent by the US to explore the Moon.
Iris has not been built by experienced engineers at Nasa or a large aerospace company, but by students at Whittaker's home institution of Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) in Pittsburgh. The robot was recently secured to its...
Absolutely, says Ralph McNutt from Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (JHU-APL) in the US.
McNutt, with colleagues, has just published a detailed report that envisions a long-lived interstellar probe - a mission to the space between the stars.
Nasa's legendary Voyagers are travelling through this domain right now, but McNutt's probe would go further and...
The impact caused devastation, with most animals and plants dying out.
But scientists say a handful of surviving snake species were able to thrive in a post-apocalyptic world by hiding underground and going long periods without food.
The resilient reptiles then spread out across the globe, evolving into the 3,000 or more species known today.
The dinosaurs famously died out when an asteroid...
The American SpaceX company has stacked the biggest rocket ever constructed.The vehicle's two segments - an upper-stage called Starship and a booster called Super Heavy - were connected together at the firm's Starbase R&D facility in Boca Chica, Texas.Standing roughly 120m (400ft) in height, the SpaceX rocket dwarfs any previous launch system.When it eventually lifts off, it will produce...
In a move that throws cold water into the dreams of some billionaire space explorers, the United States has toughened its definition of the word "astronaut."The new rules of the FAA (the agency that regulates civil aviation in the United States) say that astronauts must be part of the crew and contribute to the safety of space flights.This means that Jeff Bezos and Sir Richard Branson cannot...
Black holes are astronomical objects that have a gravity so strong that not even light can escape. Neutron stars are incredibly dense dead stars. It is estimated that a teaspoon of material from a neutron star weighs about 4 billion tons.Both objects are cosmic monsters, but black holes are considerably more massive than neutron stars.In the first collision, which was detected on January 5,...
The forward view shows the landscape ahead of the robot as it sits on its landing platform; the rear-looking image reveals Zhurong's solar panels.The rover touched down on the Red Planet early on Sunday, Beijing time.In doing so, it made China only the second nation - after America - to successfully put a probe on the surface of Mars and operate it for a significant length of time.Chinese...
The Tianhe module - which contains living quarters for crew members - was launched from the Wenchang Space Launch Centre on a Long March-5B rocket.China hopes to have the new station operational by 2022.The only space station currently in orbit is the International Space Station, from which China is excluded.China has been a late starter when it comes to space exploration. It was only in 2003...
The asteroid impact that killed off the dinosaurs gave birth to our planet's tropical rainforests, a study suggests.Researchers used fossil pollen and leaves from Colombia to investigate how the impact changed South American tropical forests.After the 12km-wide space rock struck Earth 66 million years ago, the type of vegetation that made up these forests changed drastically.The team has...
Our universe may be filled with unseen giants. Astronomers have discovered two giant radio galaxies, which are some of the largest-known objects in the universe. This revelation suggests that the enormous galaxies may be more common than previously believed.
The study published Monday in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
Astronomers found the two galaxies in new...
The Chang'e-5 robotic mission landed a few hours ago on lunar soil and aims to collect samples of rock and dust to bring them back to Earth.
The venture targets a site called Mons Rümker, a volcanic complex in a nearby region known as Oceanus Procellarum.The spacecraft's landing module should spend the next few days examining its surroundings and gathering materials from the lunar...
They are all tropical cyclones, but the name hurricane is used exclusively for those in the North Atlantic and the Pacific Northwest.
How do they form and why do they usually occur in this part of the world?
A power pump
The most common mechanism of hurricane formation in the Atlantic - which causes more than 60% of these phenomena - is a tropical wave.
When it reaches the Atlantic...
Two European satellites have spotted a catastrophic oil spill in the Arctic Circle.
About 20,000 tons of diesel oil has leaked into a river in the Arctic Circle after a fuel tank at a power plant near the Siberian city of Norilsk collapsed last Friday (May 29). The Russian Investigative Committee has launched an investigation into the incident, as the plant reportedly...
Chalk up yet another win for Einstein.
A twist in the fabric of spacetime is causing the orbit of one stellar corpse to teeter around another stellar corpse, researchers report. And the relativistic corkscrew is helping astronomers reconstruct the final days of these two long-dead stars.
According to general relativity, any spinning mass drags spacetime around with it, like a hand mixer in...
The space probe Parker was launched in 2018 with a mission and either: unravel the mysteries of one of the least explored places in the solar system, its own central star.
And a year later, the mission of NASA reported on Wednesday its first comments from the edge of the Sun's atmosphere, where no other mission had come before.
The revelations, divided into four articles published in...
